Ball retarder for bowling alleys



y 1 E. HEDENSKOOG 5 9 BALL RETARDER FOR BOWLING ALLEYS Filed May 7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 zmly Patented May 2, 1950 iJMlTED STATES PATENT ()FFICE BALL RETARDER FDR BOWLING ALLEYS Application May 7, 1947, Serial No. 746,542

12 Claims. l

This invention relates to ball retarders for bowling alleys, by means of which the movement of bowling balls is retarded on the return run- Way of bowling alleys.

The invention described and claimed herein is an improvement over that disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 580,999, filed March 5, 1945.

One object of the invention is to provide a new and improved ball retarding device wherein the retarding action is substantially constant at all times.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a ball retarder having a plurality of ballengaging arms adapted to be positioned successively in ball obstructing relation to the return runway with each arm being automatically shifted into and out of active position by the passage of a ball along the runway with the retarding force being applied to the device at substantially all times.

More specifically, the invention involves the provision of a rotatab e device having a plurality of arms extending radially at equal intervals and adapted to be projected successively into the space between the ball supporting rails constituting the return runway, together with braking means constantly acting on the device to retard each of a series of balls as they encounter the device.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the terminal portion or a return runway of a bowling alley showing one rail with a retarding device embodying this invention associated with the runway.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partially in section of a retarding device.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the retarding device.

Fig. 4. is a section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section showing a ball on the runway rails.

Fig. 6 is a section taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a section taken along line 1-1 of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 8 is a section taken along line t e of Fig. 2.

The invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions and is herein shown and described in one embodiment, but it is not intended that the invention be understood as limited to the specific forms disclosed but rather that it embraces all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

In a standard bowling alley the ball is returned to the player, from the pit, by a runway extending at one side of the alley and terminat in adjacent the approach end of the alley so that the ball is returned to a position conveniently at hand for the next play. As shown in Fig. 1, the terminal portion of the return runway IE! preferably includes an upwardly inclined track reaching its maximum elevation at the hump I I, from which point a downwardly inclined section l2 connects with the final horizontal portion 13, sometimes termed the rack. It is desirable to retard the ball as it a proaches the rack so that it shall not arrive with so much force as to be dislodged from the rack or to strike other balls in a manner tending to injure them. For this purpose. the present invention provides a rotatable device lll comprising a hub !5 from which extend coplanar arms It aranged at eoual angular intervals around the axis of the hub as shown in Fig. 2. This structure is carried by shaft I! journaled in an open topped metal box l8 preferably made of sheet metal having end walls formed with top and bottom flanges 8a and side flanges Nib. The shaft I1 is spaced below the top of the box It and is journaled in bearing structures 29 attached to the sides of the box as by welding. The portion of the runway adjacent the retarding device comprises a pair of rails 20] spaced from each other so that one of the arms IE may extend between the rails. As the retarding device is rotated, th arms are successively brought into ball-engaging position with an arm extending upwardly between the rails. The outer end of each arm is preferably provided with a roller 21 having a rubber covering Zia thereon with each roller being rotatably mounted on an axle 22 and located in a cavity Ilia at the outer extremity of the arm.

As shown, there are four arms l8 disposed at substantially degree intervals around the axis of the shaft ll.

Attached to the hub I5 is a star-shaped block 23 with this block being concentrically located with respect to the shaft ll. As shown in Fig. 2, each point of the star is at an angle of substantially 45 degrees with respect to an adjacent arm and the depressed portion between adjacent points is substantially aligned with an arm It. This star-shaped block 23 serves as the inner race section of a cam track 24. The outer race section of the cam track is formed by four spaced 3 outer blocks 25 also attached to the hub l5 and having inner surfaces a located opposite the outer surface of the star-shaped block 23 so that the closed cam track 2 5 has an approximately constant width. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the cam track 24 is thus star-shaped.

Rotatably mounted on one side wall of the box 18 is a T-shaped bell crank 2t. This bell crank is rotatably mounted on a stud shaft 21 held in a mounting structure 28 that is attached to the box I8 as by welding. This stud shaft 2'! serves as a fulcrum for the bell crank 26 and is held in the bell crank as by a bearing structure 29. One arm 25a of the bell crank extends to a position adjacent one end wall of the box it.

A second arm 26b of the bell crank extends to a position adjacent the other end of the box 53. The third arm 260, which is arranged at right angles to the first two arms, extends to a position adjacent the cam track 26. The free end of the third arm 266 carries a roller mounted on a stud shaft 3| and held within the cam piston arm 36 extending out of the cylinder 32 and rotatably attached to the bell crank arm 25a.

The piston 35 and piston arm 36 are made integrally with each other with the bottom 36a of the piston arm being of larger diameter than the remainder of the arm but of smaller diameter than the piston. The piston 35 is provided with an internal recess 35a opening at the bottom of the piston and a passageway 35?) extending up into the bottom 36a of the arm 36. This bottom 36a of the arm 35 is provided with radial passageways 35c communicating with the piston passageway 351).

Located within the internal recess 35a is a disc 31. This disc is freely movable longitudinally of the piston 35 and is provided with passageways or holes 31a adjacent the edge thereof and a central hole 371). Each hole Bla is of considerably larger diameter than the central hole 372) piston 35 is a coil compression spring 39 extending between the bottom of the cylinder 32 and the bottom of the piston 35. This spring serves to urge the piston toward its topmost position.

The top of the cylinder 32 is closed off by means of a cap d6 through which the piston arm 36 extends. V This cap is threaded and engages similar threads on the inner surface of the cylinder 32. The cap is provided with two holes Mia arranged on a diameter and adapted to vent air during the movement of the piston 35. Held within the top portion of the cap 40 is a plug 4| also having holes Ma therein with these holes 4 la being spaced laterally from the holes Mia so that 'oil within the piston 32 will not be ejected from the cylinder.

Located under the free end of the other bell crank arm 2% is another cylinder 52 like cylinder 32 and also having a piston 33, cap 44, and plug This 5.;

65 like the piston, cap and plug previously described. The second cylinder 42 is not provided with a spring, however. Both cylinders 32 and d2 contain oil 36 and ll. The oil in each cylinder serves to brake the movement of a piston when the piston is moving in one direction only.

As can be seen, the pistons 35 and .3 move in opposite directions as the bell crank 25 is rocked about its shaft 2'5. The spring 33 in the cylinder 32 serves to hold the piston 35 in its topmost position when no force is applied to an arm [6. This is the position shown in Fig. 2. In this position, the piston 35 is located at the topmost portion of its path of movement, the piston 43 is at the bottom of its path of movement, and the roller is between two adjacent points of the star-shaped block 23 and is thus closest to the shaft i! on which the rotatable device is mounted. When the rotatable device is in this position, one of the arms it is extending upwardly in a vertical position. When a ball 48 strikes the arm [6, the rotatable device is is turned in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 2) for substantially degrees. This 90 degree movement causes the roller 38 to ride over a point 253a on the star-shaped member 23, thereby causing a rock ng motion of the bell crank 26. Because of the action of the 39, the bell crank always returns to the position shown in Fig. 2. During the rocking movement of the arm 25, downward movement of each piston 35 and i3 is resisted by oil being forced through the central hole, such as that shown at 37b in the disc 3?. The amount of this resistance can be varied by varying the diameter of the hole 3%. When the ball 48 strikes the arm it, the piston 35 is moved downwardly. This causes the disc 3? to be forced by the oil into contact with the bottom of the internal recess 35a thus shutting off the holes did in the disc and leaving only the central hole 3751; open. This is only true, however, when the arm it that is contacted by the ball moves through its first 45 degrees. At the end of this first 45 degrees, the piston 35 is at the bottom of its path of movement while the piston is at the top. During the last 45 degrees of movement of an arm I6, the piston moves up and the piston d3 moves down. During downward movement of the piston 43, the oil in the cylinder d2 serves to brake the force of the movement in the same manner as described with respect to piston 35. As piston 35 is moved upwardly during this last 45 degrees of movement of an arm it, the oil that is now above the piston flows back through all passageways in the disc 3i which is forced down against the retaining ring 38. This opens up the holes 31a in the disc and permits relatively free flow of oil. Thus the motion of each piston 35 and 4-3 is retarded when the piston moves downwardly but not when the piston moves upwardly. As the two pistons are always out of phase it can readily be seen that a braking force is applied to the ball retarder at all times. 7

Because the retarding device has a braking force applied thereto throughout all of its rotation, there is no danger that a secondball can strike a ball that is in the retarding device and eject it forcibly therefrom. This is important in the present invention and is a distinct advance over the art. With former ball retarders, a braking force is applied during only a portion of the movement of the device so that if a second ball strikes the first ball there is nothing to retard the motion of both balls. The retarding device shown and described herein is therefore quite safe yet simple in operation.

I claim:

1. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced cylinders, a piston in each cylinder, means operably connected to the rotatable device and to the pistons for simultaneously causing movement of the pistons in opposite directions in their cylinders, with each piston travelling from one end of its path to the other and back again said pistons being directly out of phase so that one piston is at one end of its path when the other piston is at a corresponding opposite end or its path, said pistons being at said ends of said paths when an arm is in ball obstructing position, means retarding movement of each piston in one direction only with this retarding means being on corresponding sides of the pistons, and spring means acting on one piston urging said piston toward said one end of its path.

2. A ball retarder for use on a, bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced movable members each movable through a cycle, means retarding movement of each member at different times during a portion only of the cycle, an operating member mounted on a fulcrum and operatively attached to each movable member on opposite sides of the fulcrum, and means connected to said operating member and to the rotatable device for rocking said operating member about its fulcrum to cause movement of the movable members upon rotation of said rotatable device.

3. The ball retarder of claim 2 wherein said rocking means comprises a cam member mounted on the rotatable device for rotation therewith with said operating member including a cam-engaging portion bearing against said cam member.

4. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into posi tion to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced movable members on opposite sides of the axis of the rotatable device and each movable through a cycle, means retarding movement of each member during a portion only of the cycle, a cam having a star-shaped cam track concentrically mounted on the rotatable device for rotation therewith, with said cam track having a point of the star between each pair of arms on the rotatable device, and a bell crank mounted on a fulcrum and having one arm operatively attached to one movable member, a second arm operatively attached to the other movable member and a third arm carrying a cam-engaging portion engaging said cam track.

5. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position, clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of cylinders on opposite sides of the axis of the rotatable device, a piston in each cylinder arranged for reciprocation therein, means retarding substantial movement of each piston in one direction only with this retarding means being on corresponding sides of the pistons, an operating member mounted on a fulcrum and operatively attached to each piston, and means connected to said operating member and to the rotatable device for rocking said operating member about its fulcrum to cause movement of the pistons in opposite directions at all times upon rotation of said rotatable device.

5. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of approximately parallel cylinders on opposite sides of the axis of the rotatable device, a,

piston in each cylinder arranged for reciprocation therein, each of said pistons having an internal chamber communicating with one end of the piston and a passageway of smaller diameter than said chamber through the other end of the piston and communicating with the chamber, a transverse disc in said chamber movable longitudinally of said piston to a position against the part of the piston containing the piston passageway, said disc having a plurality of passageways therein, one disc passageway only being aligned with the piston passageway when the disc is against the part of the piston containing said piston passageway, a liquid in each cylinder in contact with said piston to flow through said chamber and piston passageways and said one disc passageway when the piston is moving in one direction and through the chamber and all passageways when the piston is moving in the opposite direction, said piston passageways being arranged on corresponding ends of the pistons, a cam having a star-shaped cam track concentrically mounted on the rotatable device for rotation therewith, with said cam track having a point of the star between each pair of arms on the rotatable device, and a bell crank mounted on a fulcrum and having one arm operatively attached to one piston, a second arm operatively attached to the other piston, and a third arm carrying a cam-engaging portion held in said cam track, said rotatable device and cam being arranged so that when one arm is in ball obstructing position one piston is at one end of its movement, the other piston is at the opposite end of its movement, and said camcontacting portion of said third arm is nearest said axis.

7. The ball retarder of claim 6 wherein spring means is provided in one cylinder urging the piston in said cylinder to the end of its movement where the cam contacting portion is nearest said axis.

8. The ball retarder of claim 6 wherein each cylinder is rotatably mounted to rotate substan- .tially in the plane of the bell crank.

9. The ball retarder of claim 6 wherein the end of each cylinder adjacent the bell crank is provided with a pair of spaced closure members each containing a set of passageways with the passageways in each set spaced laterally from and out of alignment with each other.

10. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable de vice journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced cylinders, a piston in each cylinder, means retarding movement of each piston in one direction only, means operably connected to the rotatable device and to the pistons for simultaneously causing movement of one piston in a retarded direction and movement of the other piston in an unretarded direction and then causing movement of said other piston in a retarded direction and said one piston in an unretarded direction upon further rotation of the rotatable device in the same direction, said pistons being at opposite ends of their paths of travel when an arm is in ball obstructing position, and spring means .on one piston constantly urging said pistons toward said ends of their paths.

11, A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path :of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contasted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced cylinders, a piston in each cylinder having an internal chamber communicating with one end. of the piston and a passageway of smaller diameter than said chamber through the other end of the piston and communicating with the chamber, a transverse disc in said chamber mov able longitudinally of said chamber to a position against the part of the piston containing the piston passageway, said disc having a plurality of passageways therein, one disc passageway only being aligned with the piston passageway when the disc is against the part of the piston containing the piston passageway, both said pistons having said piston passageways at corresponding ends thereof, a liquid in each cylinder in contact with the piston therein to flow through said piston chamber and piston and disc passageways and to cause said longitudinal movement of the discs during movement of the pistons, spring means in one cylinder urging the piston toward one end of its path, said piston being at said end of its path when an arm is in ball obstructing position, and means operably connected to the rotatable device and said pistons for simultaneously causing movement of the pistons in opposite directions on rotation of said device.

12. A ball retarder for use on a bowling alley ball return runway comprising a rotatable device journaled at an axis adjacent the runway and including a plurality of substantially equally spaced arms extending outwardly from said axis in position to project successively into the path of a ball as the device is rotated about its axis by contact of a ball with an arm, with the contacted arm being moved out of position clear of said path and a succeeding arm being moved into position to be contacted by a succeeding ball, a pair of spaced movable members each movable through a cycle, means retarding movement of each member at different times during a portion only of the cycle, an operating member mounted on a fulcrum and operatively attached to each movable member on opposite sides of the fulcrum, and means connected to said operating member and to the rotatable device for rocking said operating member about its fulcrum to cause movement of the movable members upon rotation of said rotatable device, said rocking means comprising a star-shaped cam track arranged on the rotatable device for rotation therewith with said operating member including a cam-engaging portion held in said cam track.

ERNEST HEDENSKOOG.

CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 655,034 Verstraete July 31, 1900 1,254,228 Hulbert Jan. 22, 1 918 

